Roger Federer admits he was ‘fooled’ by rushing to judge certain players too quickly

Swiss tennis legend Roger Federer has been a perfectionist on the tennis court. The 20-time Grand Slam champion has displayed a pure style of play, attracting audiences from all over the world and achieving many tennis records. However, Federer has pointed out one flaw in his tennis analysis that took him a long time to rectify: judging other players based on their technique and style of play.

One of Federer’s biggest examples of a misjudged player was none other than his long-term rival, Novak Djokovic . In the ‘Federer: Last Twelve Days’ documentary, the Swiss Maestro revealed that he didn’t give the 24-time Grand Slam champion enough credit for ironing out the mistakes he had early on when he first broke through. On the tour today, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are setting the standard in terms of tennis quality and versatility.



The two tennis titans have dominated the ATP tour in 2024, splitting all four Grand Slam titles and winning a combined three Masters 1000 titles this year. Roger Federer shares take on the declining one-handed backhand Roger Federer has shared his viewpoint on the decline of the one-handed backhand on the ATP tour. The Swiss Maestro, who had one of the most iconic one-handed backhands of all time, has expressed concern over the lack of one-handers on tour.

In the era when Federer was growing up, the ATP tour had many high-quality one-handed backhand players. Pete Sampras , Gustavo Kuerten , and Tommy Haas were some of the players from Federer’s younger years who elevated the backhand game. During Federer’s prime, he competed against equally effective one-handed backhand players like Richard Gasquet and his countryman Stanislas Wawrinka .

However, the current ATP tour doesn’t have many recognized one-handed backhand players, with the exceptions of Stefanos Tsitsipas and Lorenzo Musetti . In 2007, Federer and Justine Henin were the top-ranked players on the ATP and WTA tours, both using single-handed backhands. Now, in 2024, it marks the first time since Federer’s emergence on the ATP tour that there is no one-handed backhand player in the top 10 of the ATP rankings.

” This article first appeared on FirstSportz and was syndicated with permission..